Everyone's back from a well earned break - the rest of you who are still away are away: for our protection; for your protection; because you were forgotten; because you forgot us; because you escaped; because we escaped; because you can; or just because! Regardless, if you are still reading this (away or back), welcome and enjoy!

The return of the interviews Cairnswk gets roasted. Heaps happening in Clans, Tournaments and Foundry - too much to repeat here. And strategy is getting traction.

Hope you are enjoying the Dispatch. Note that it has had a little bit of a shuffle. We would love your input, ideas, suggestions, article prompts, even a well placed brickbat or two wouldn't hurt. So, sing out!! In the immortal words of Oscar Wilde:

It was a fatal day when the public discovered that the pen is mightier than the paving-stone, and can be made as offensive as the brickbat. They at once sought for the journalist, found him, developed him, and made him their industrious and well-paid servant. It is greatly to be regretted, for both their sakes.

I'm back from the sun and sand of my vacation and ready to get back to writing. cairnswk talks about mapmaking and his drinks of choice (among other things) this issue and we have a new Scum insider for you mafia aficionados.You Stay Classy, CC.

Want to get into the Mafia scene, but don't know how to play or even what it is? Consult these threads: Mafia Information, Mafia and You, and Rules and Terms of Mafia.Too much work? Too lazy to read through everything? No worries, you can always jump right into a game and ask for other players or the game runner to help guide you.

What is "Mafia"?Mafia, for those of you that don't know, is a game that generally takes place in a town, where the townspeople have to determine who the mafia (or "scum") is and lynch them via a majority vote during the day and the mafia try to kill everyone at night and bluff their way out of getting killed by the town.

Mafia Newsjonty has started a random mafia with all the games of 2012 as possible roles. This looks like it could be a recurring theme if the game plays out well. It could also devolve into a curb stomping by an overpowered role. Follow it here!

Mafia CalloutsCalling all players interested! Some mafia games need some filling:

Advanced Roles and Strategy by safariguy5A possible counter to cult is discussed this game.

The Alarmist

What is It?The Alarmist can choose to target a player every night. If that player is also targeted for cult recruitment, the recruitment fails.

ExampleJack is the cult leader. He attempts to recruit Alice. Bob is an alarmist who targets Alice. The recruitment fails.

How to Play this RoleThe Alarmist is almost always Town. The presence of this role guarantees the presence of a cult. It might be advantageous for the Alarmist to declare the role early to clue town into the fact that cult is present in the game. Besides that, the Alarmist may be able to clear certain people depending on possible timing of recruitment and possible scene flavor.

Q. If you could go back and revise one of your maps, which would it be?

I don't know that from gameplay any need revising, but perhaps Madness I would re-visit the graphics on.

Q. Which of the other maps on CC do you wish you had thought of?

None. Other maps have been done by other mapmakers because it is what floats their boat at the time. Same as for me.I've never really though "i was I could have done that one"

Q. What are some things you wish you could do with a map but are not possible right now?

1. Appropriate music in the background i.e. 1812 Overture playing if I was to make a map of Battle of Borodino.2. Animation of elements i.e. soldiers changing position and moving between terts as the battle changes.3. Animated legend (which someone has already made advances toward)Q. How did you get interested in designing maps?

On CC, wanting to get Cairns represented as a region. Part of my psyche in developing maps is an educational process as well as the creative process. I am a very visual person because of the old adage ... an image tells a thousand words (good or bad).

Q. Do you ever find your maps too difficult to play yourself?

Never. I don't win much, 'coz there are lots of others better than I, but I still enjoy occasionally re-visiting them, particularly if a player has invited me, or if there is an issue to be sorted.

Q. Qwert is teaching an advanced SoC class, an introduction to his maps (which has yet to be conducted, but will once we have some team grads). Would you ever consider teaching the same kind of class through the SoC?

No. There is already strategy questions available in Q&A. And I don't really have time and would prefer to be developing new maps.

Q. What new map making tools would you like to have at your disposal?

Thank-you Gillipig. It is not so much the tools, but the knowledge of how to use the tools. Although, I do wish Adobe would get all its menus and tools for its various software pieces on the same page for "best purpose use"

Q. If you could drag one user into the foundry and make him comment on the maps, who would it be?

No-one.

Q. Are you pissed at all about not being able to get more than 30 map making medals?

No. I have it spreadsheeted on my computer how many maps I made, and I can keep track in my signature piece. I have long lost track of my premiums, and given many away. The medal issue is attempting to be resolved as are other medal issues, although i hope there is functionality in the resolution and not just a somewhat superficial solution.

Q. What do you want from Santa this year?

Oooh! Couple of mill to do what i want with life, but Santa didn't co-operate, so i must've been bad this year -> ":you naughty boy in the Foundry, trying to "rule the place".

Q. Apart from the map foundry, do you ever browse the forums?

Yes, for topics that are CC related and i feel i can contribute proactively to.

Q. Who's mapmaking skills do you covet?

Thank-you chapcrap.No-one's! we all have different skills and do some things better than others. Coveting something/someone is not something I am into.

Q. Do you sometimes wish you could run a medieval dungeon and torture people?

Torture people - never!Medieval dungeon - well, from time to time there are some people I would like to put in a dungeon, and now is one of those times.I do have an attraction however, to chivalry, inquisition etc in movies.

Q. What's your favourite method of execution?

Madame Guillotine ... while under the blade, the longer you hold the rope, the looser your grip becomes

Q. Who is the more important cultural icon: Puff the Magic Dragon or Squiddly-Diddly?

Never been into either, but preferences would tell me Squiddly-Diddly ... Puff's a little on the aged side now.

Q. Would you rather cross the Pacific in a kayak or cross Eurasia on a tricycle?

Eurasia of course.

Q. What's your favourite food?

Pork-belly pasta

Q. Cat person or dog person?

Dog. I am also a Dog in Chinese astrology. Some might say I am a dog-of-a-mapmaker

Printing Press for me ... along with Pestalozzi (father of training manuals) made education more widely available.Indoor plumbing ... some changes from that namely hygiene have still not been resolved.

Q. Who's the most famous person you've ever met?

Met as in acknowledged by ... Princess Margaret at the Royal Opera House in 1996 at performance of Carmina Buranaalso, Bob Hawke - former PM of Australia, at Sydney Airport.Met as in had conversation with...Jan Adele at Edna's Table in Sydney in 1984

Q. How many ideas do you try out (offline) before you find something you want to work and spend time developing more thoroughly?

Thanks Andy.Ideas are continually evolving in my mind as to how to apply the game to different everyday scenarios or maps. I don't spend time trying to find out if it will work on paper ... it has to work in some manner in my mind before I commit to drawing.

Q. How many times has Ace Rimmer bested you?

Chapcrap ... irrelevant in terms of grammar.

Q. What Australian phrases would you like to see brought into wider use on Conquer Club?

Andy, none. CC is a worldwide play utility ... we all have different cultural idiosyncrasies ... perhaps understanding these is best.

Q. What motivates you to continue to make maps while others just seem to fizzle out? What would CC do with out your maps?

Thanks Nola_LiferPeople fizzle out for their own reasons, whether they move onto other RL priorities or can't stand the rigor of the foundry process or get too emotional (like I do sometimes). Enjoyment of the creative process and the challenge of sometimes(?) arriving at a different concept either gameplay-wise or graphically, is the motivator for me. Without me ... I don't ever think in these terms really, except that other mapmakers might have arrived somewhere similar with the similar maps, although I don't know about doing family trees or rail lines or cricket maps.

Q. Cairnswk, a number of your maps are recreations of historical battles. What is your single favourite historical period and why?

Thank-you FunkyTerrance.Mmm ... I can't say i have one, although the French period of Charles IV has caught my attention at present because of the Massacre at Paris.It really depends on what i feel like doing at the time ... a very creative influence if you understand my meaning.

Q. What's doing with that bloody butterfly?

Greenoaks ... can't say I thank you for calling it a bloody butterfly.The butterfly is representative of the Cairns Birdwing Butterfly native to my region.If it irritates you, then the animation has done its job by grabbing your attention

Q. Is there any map that you've done that you wish you never made?

Gillpig ... No.

Q. Describe yourself with three words.

Creative, creative, creative.

Q. What is your greatest strength?

Ability to think outside the box.

Q. What is your greatest weakness?

Sometimes laziness.

Q. Do you look down on mere mortals like everyone else except you and me?

No, nor would I want to, because like has reciprocity!

Q. Do you think the world would be better off without the Northern Hemisphere?

Ah, Dukasaur, thank-you.No. everything has its place.

Q. What advice would you give to novice or would-be mapmakers?

Thank-you sempaispellcheckWork hard, be creative, have patience in the Foundry ... it's very slow these days!

Q. Are there any maps you'd like to make but can't because of copyright issues?

Macbone, thank-you, that's an interesting one.Something combining everything from James Bond I think would be great ... gungho "licensed to kill" would suit CC to a tee.

Q. How did you first discover Conquer Club?

Dukasaur ... searching for online RISK.

Q. Out of all of your maps, which one would you say is the most "you?" That is, which one do you feel the closest to in terms of style, gameplay, etc -- or which one do you feel the most connected to and why?

Thanks rdsrds2120Poison Rome Love the period historically, fascinated by "I Claudius", love the poisoning bit from Livia, challenging graphically although players need to get their head around the connections, uses easy gameplay components in borders, bombardments and buildings, and challenging to come up with the creative components.

Q. What is your process for choosing which maps to make?

chapcrap, it is determined by whatever concept I can arrive at mindfully, and then by which I can transfer to the graphic software to make something at least half reasonable that might have a chance of being acceptable.

Q. If you were to attribute your map making skill to one personality trait, which would it be?

Persistence

Q. What is your LEAST favorite map?

puppydog85, thanks...I don't really have one. I could find good and bad in all maps including my own.

Q. Why do you use so many different programs when making maps?

koontz ...I am currently using Photshop 5, Illustrator CS3, Fireworks CS3, Coreldraw X4I have had many people say to me that PS is the hardest to learn, and I have to agree with them. Whoever developed that, didn't take a look at the menu icons that other Adobe products were using. Each program has its positives and negatives. Illustrator allows lines at less than 1px, as does CD, therefore they are better for doing text and vectors and have better export facility for these effects. PS has better functions. So it's one for some and none for all. It can be frustrating.

Q. Why so many breaks for your maps? You have so many going through at one time, then for some reason, they all go into the bin for a month or two. Only for you to bring them out and finish them.

Yes ... the production time can be soooooo ... long, I will get bored with a map until I re-develop the penchant for it. Plus doing uni full-time does not allow for mapmaking activities as study takes all my time during semsters. But we also have this ridiculous rule in the foundry that "bins" maps after a month for not completing an update, which to me is totally unproactive to allowing a map to remain in production in the foundry proper where players can look at it and provide feedback. It's a combination at present of all things. In many ways, it's hardly conducive for "advertising our maps".

Why do you make so many maps at one time? Do you not feel this effects quality?

Lack of feedback from the community! I can only go as fast sometimes as the community provides feedback, although if I have good energy for a map I will push it forward anyway. So this means during holidays, there are many ideas traversing my head and they need to be developed and put down for potential use. Quality? Well, quality is such a subjective thing isn't it? No I don't think it affects quality. I do have some expectations about how much time I will spend on a map however. That limits my qualitativeness, but then some have far higher expectations.

Q. Are their any maps that you wish you could make but current restrictions stop you (xml or size)?

No. Size wise, I think Spanish Armada will be the largest I've done, and I wouldn't probably want to do anything larger than that. As for XML, I understand the complexities of adding something to an "engine" so I am not surprised this is a slow process to develop and test. But waiting for xml updates is patience testing. I believe also part of the challenge of making a map is defining your idea by what is available size-wise or xml-wise, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't

Q. I'm assuming you get bored/frustrated with certain maps and this may be the reason you tend to hop around a bit but I was wondering, what was your most difficult map to finally knuckle down and finish?

True i do jump around a bit sometimes but it is not from being bored (I do have other interests and hobbies apart from CC) ... it is from waiting for feedback. Trafalgar i think. Instead of getting a brush from some website, each of those rope pieces is individually drawn. But there was also a lot fo toing and froing in it also.

Q. Who's your favourite author?

Dukasaur, i am not an avid book-reader, as you can prob tell from amount of time spent developing maps. I do however, spend copious amounts of time doing research and reading through internet stuff to get ideas on how something for maps might work. There was a period when I wasn't mapmaking years ago, and my favourite authors then were Virginia Andrews and Catherine Cookson.

Q. If you were going to be remembered for one and only one map, which map would you like that to be?

Andy, as much as it is not necessarily my favourite map, I'd have to say Cairns Coral Coast ... simply because it gave my region an identity on CC. I know I will be remembered for the Rail Series. Unfortunately, i have to announce that the "Foundry Powers" have advised that Rail South America will be the last rail map allowed on the site. Anyone wanting Rail N America will have to campaign for it, but you could be happy with Race to Promontory Summit (1v1)instead. Rail Antartica and Rail Mars were never intended to made by myself anyways.

Q. What is your favorite sandwich?

chapcrap ... Barramundi and Salad, which includes pineapple and beetroot.

Q. How much Midori do you drink? Any other drink(s) you enjoy(maybe with a sandwich)?

Nola_Lifer, these days i don't drink any Midoria ... alcohol is not good for my health.I chose the Midori because of its green colour to go with the butterfly mainly, sorry to disappoint.When I used to drink years ago, my preference was for Captain Morgan or Bundaberg OP Rum and Coke, or Tequila and Green Chartreuse chasers for benders. They are wicked. These days, it's diet cordial, water, milk, tea or coffee with the sandwiches. Almost vanilla one might say.

A final word ... if I may.Again, a big thank-you ... ... to everyone who visits the foundry to take interest in any map production. Yes, we get emotional; yes we have disputes and yes, we sling mud at each other every now and then, and if you're in the firing line, you might cop some mud also the same as we do, and the same as you do in other forums. But what we do is passionate, and I believe important to providing on-going support for the site and a great variety of maps that you guys can conquer. So please visit us to give your feedback (1. preferably while a map is in production and 2. afterwards when the maps are in Beta and you have played them a while).

28 pages and counting and the New Sitting Rules are still causing consternation. At least there has been some clarification:

Bones2484 wrote:

ViperOverLord wrote:I don't know if any progress has been made in the last 18 pages. Assuming not__ The one hour rule is a freaking terrible rule. I'm not going to sugar coat it. All of the sudden, account sitters need to get up at 3 in the morning if the turn is ending at that time? That's just freaking terrible. That'd be worse than not allowing account sitting at all.

If you are a legit account sitter (meaning someone is away from the site) you can take the turn at any time. I know you didn't read the last 18 pages, but you could have at least read the first post.

As for the one hour, that is only when you do not have explicit permission from that person to cover turns for the immediate future. One hour is being generous as you really shouldn't ever be on someone's account without permission.

I know it sucks to have missed turns, but thinking back to G1's recent wars it happens to us maybe once per war? It's a team competition and part of the team dynamic is knowing you can trust people to take their own turns. A missed turn is part of the overall (lack of) strength of the clan. But seriously... is it THAT big of a deal to have a rare missed turn? You guys are arguing over something that should not happen more than in extremely rare circumstances anyways.

Are your clanmates that unreliable that they disappear without asking someone to cover for them on a regular basis? Maybe you shouldn't be placing those individuals in important games.

Indeed, it's even led to an effort to boycott official events to encourage the Clan Directors to be more amenable to the needs of the people!

U* wrote:I plan to have XXX* boycott all official clan competitions as longas 1 Hour Rule is on the books. I'm trying to include other clans ifpossible, if not we'll go it alone. I've contacted 2 clans and gottenpositive responses so far. My goal is to have enough clans sign upfor petition before the CL5 starts, force the change of rule.I'd prefer to have the rule rescinded altogether, or at least modified(to 3-4 hours, something like that). the rule is unnecessary and almostuniversally disliked. all just because of actions by very few.

can you check with your buddies if YYY* is interested in joiningthe fight?

txsi se puede

While another individual succinctly summed up the main sticking point with the new rules

S* wrote:I REALLY would like it shifted to 2 hours, cause I'll see a turn at one and a half or something and know that person already missed but can't take it for them and can't wait around (mainly from past circumstances).

The F400 recently got updated (13 January 2013) and has some intriguing results. As expected, the top 4 are all semi-finalists from Conquerors Cup 3. & Indeed the only outlier among the top 8, is recent arrival Fallen. (as opposed to CC3 quarter-finalist One Step Ahead). Indeed, 15 of the top 17 clans made the CC3 round of 16! However, it's always tight at the top, so there's very little way to tell who's better than who if the particular clans haven't played each other yet. And even that tells so little, as evidenced from the scorelines of the quarterfinal. Each tie was decided by no more than 2 games! We only need to look as far as the naming of the game of Risk to show how little things can sway a solitary game, and with a set of 60 games where the outcome still comes out so close, one can only be but astounded by the pedigree on display, & the mental fortitude to advance by the slimmest of margins!

& Fallen compete in the Newcomers Cup 3: Finals where TNC take an early 3-2 lead.

vs WAR is an even closer affair as PR look to have taken the last game of Stalingrad

Newer clans FISO & YNWA duke it out in an exciting introduction to Clan Gaming

& Crazy Canucks turn Social

We could do with a few more reporters in Clans - or else you get more of this!

*Names withheld for publishers protection

Hello again my friends, and welcome to your favorite part of the Newsletter, "War Games", where you can find information about CC Tournaments!

I was reading Dave's TPA Wrap, and I was thinking, "Okay, he's got the TPA2 update, and he's got the TPA3 update, but where the %&#$ is the TPA1 update?!?!" And then it came to me -- there is no more TPA1 because TPA1 is finished! Of course, we already reported this to you last issue, but somehow I still hadn't got used to the fact.

The Seventh Anniversary celebrations had the traditional day of Battle Royales, and the the Hippo will tell you all about it in our lead article. DaveH has another installment of his Tournament Tips. James is taking a bit of a break to focus on academic pursuits, so I've done Join This? Or Not! for this issue. Check it out; there's been a few really neat ideas in the Create/Join forum in the last few days. And finally, I have a little bit of personal bragging to do, which constitutes our fifth article.

The first was on Sunday, January 6th, 2013, CC hosted the great BR Anniversary Challenge. Battle Royale games can be played anytime you like using the tab at the left of your screen. But that's just on the Coloseum map. Once a year, CC hosts 24 hours of madness where Battle Royale setting can be played on any map TeamCC mods set up - better yet, they were all fast games (mostly 2 minute as it turned out) - better yet, Freemiums could play too! The result was a very long day for rdsrds2120, who stayed up for the whole thing, along with many others who either popped in or out or did their level best to keep up with it all. TeamCC popped in and out and some stayed around almost as long as rdsrds2120 - most notably Brucewar, Chapcrap and Dukasaur but all TeamCC really put heaps into this. Some of TeamCC, like Metsfanmax, TeeGee and sempaispellcheck, were away and regrettably could not participate. Similarly, many normal starters missed the fun (notably MoB Deadly who is usually there every year and you others know who you are!). And, to be sure, a great time was had by all!! Numerous comments of praise and general back-slapping followed the event. I didn't win a single thing but had a lot of fun regardless.

1. Who played the most games? - Morrigan and [Shino Tenshi] both played a whopping 54 games each (out of the 70 set up); 2. Who won the most games? - Waterman5000 and Gabriel13 both won 8 games each;3. Who beat the most other unique people? - Gabriel13 smashed 104 different souls;4. Who won on the most uniqe maps? - Waterman5000 for winning on the 6 maps - Australia, Central America, Doodle Earth, Eurasia Mini, USA West, Indochina;5. How many maps were played? - 21 maps in all - USA West, Madagascar, Doodle Earth, Haiti, Golfe du St Laurent, Iceland, Mongol Empire, Circus Maximus, Indochina, Classic, Netherlands, WWII Iwo Jima, Portugal, Australia, USA New England, Brazil, Eurasia Mini, Ireland, USA Southwest, Italy, Central America;6. What was the most popular map? - Doodle Earth on which 27 games were played;7. Who won the most points in a single game? - Gilligan won a staggering 997 points in Game 12182106;8. Who won/lost the most points overall? - jdw35 went up and incredible +1261 while poor darth emperor plummeted a sickening -300; and9. How many mods got involved? - excuse me if I missed any, but jricart, rdsrds2120, Gilligan, sniffie, Leehar, Dukasaur, thenobodies80, ElricTheGreat, thehippo8, RedBaron0, chapcrap all played games

The thread was lively throughout the event. Always interesting to see who comes out of the woodwork. From the likes of our beloved Lackattack, ExWebnaster, who said: Happy new year everyone and congrats to CC on our 7th year through to completely new faces likes of Just_essence who rightly observed: Seems that I joined just around the right time. The start was initially slow and then aborted as technical issues were fixed. It actually was quite a thing at the time.

rdsrds2120 wrote:UPDATE ON BR ISSUE

The fix is on its way as the programmer comes online. I apologize greatly for this inconvenience!!

As for my being late, I apologize for that as well. My car broke down on the expressway, delaying me a couple of hours. Oh boy did fate choose a day to have me late for work!

As soon as it is fixed, we will make the games like never before!

BMO

Funnily enough when we did kick off, a couple of hours later, I see that I created the second BR game! I had been unable to make the start myself (work) and it is funny to look back and see I missed nothing in the end! The hours whiled away and games came and went. The longer games took longer to fill, as BMO noted: The larger/medium ones take a while to fill up almost always. For the duration, I've been making some on smaller maps (Doodle, USA West, etc) to pass the time. An extra three hours was added to the end of the event to make up for the lost time. I am biased, but I figured it was the best event ever. Gillipig said: It was a lot of fun! Haven't enjoyed playing games this much for several years.Nosurvivors added: Thanks to all for participating and to all the mods for your hard work making the games! Glad to see so many faces I hadn't before, in the live chat and in the games, and hope to see you next year! Thanks for another excellent day of BR's!

Throughout this momentous occasion, games were joined through the Live Chat module. The conversation was lively and the aftreglow warm! Here's an example of chat at the end of the event:

07/01/2013 03:40:07 ‹Shino Tenshi› Thanks to the mods for a great CC birthday Any idea when the posts are going up for the casual games?07/01/2013 03:44:06 ‹rdsrds2120› Tomorrow/later today sometime =)07/01/2013 03:44:28 ‹Shino Tenshi› Okay, thanks!07/01/2013 03:45:02 ‹JaneAustin› kay.. night chat ? night rds & TG ?07/01/2013 03:45:16 ‹rdsrds2120› Good night, Jane!07/01/2013 03:47:26 ‹Gillipig› How many BR's did you play rds?07/01/2013 03:47:56 ‹Gillipig› I played in 1907/01/2013 03:49:12 ‹rdsrds2120› Hmm 07/01/2013 03:49:14 ‹rdsrds2120› Let me check!07/01/2013 03:49:25 ‹thehippo8› thanks again everyone07/01/2013 03:49:36 ‹Shino Tenshi› 54 for me07/01/2013 03:49:42 ‹rdsrds2120› 31!07/01/2013 03:50:15 ‹Gillipig› did you sleep at all Shino?07/01/2013 03:51:56 ‹Gillipig› 70 games were created. I wonder who joined the most games.07/01/2013 03:51:58 ‹rdsrds2120› Oh 07/01/2013 03:52:23 ‹Shino Tenshi› I vote for Morrigan for most games joined07/01/2013 03:53:07 ‹Gillipig› Morrigan played 54, same as you07/01/2013 03:53:33 ‹Shino Tenshi› Gillipig, Morrigan and I slept for around 3-4 hours in the afternoon. I passed out on the floor and she passed out in bed this afternoon07/01/2013 03:54:00 ‹Gillipig› You're family?07/01/2013 03:54:11 ‹Shino Tenshi› Yeah, partners07/01/2013 03:54:23 ‹Gillipig› Ah, better still07/01/2013 03:54:30 ‹Shino Tenshi› yup 07/01/2013 03:54:59 ‹Gillipig› I take it you didn't meet through cc though?07/01/2013 03:55:23 ‹Shino Tenshi› Nah, we didn't. We've been around since 2007 though, I think07/01/2013 03:55:39 ‹Shino Tenshi› Mostly for BRs and special events only for the last 2-3 years though07/01/2013 03:57:26 ‹Gillipig› BR's should be implemented as regular function in the game. Would make me pay up if you did07/01/2013 04:01:48 ‹Shino Tenshi› It already is, kind of, with the Battle Royale tab07/01/2013 04:02:15 ‹Shino Tenshi› Though from what I understand they only ever have Collesium games there07/01/2013 04:02:42 ‹Gillipig› what do you mean with "BR tag"?07/01/2013 04:03:13 ‹Shino Tenshi› BR tab... the menu item on the left hand side below "Conquer Cup" in the Game Menu07/01/2013 04:03:55 ‹Shino Tenshi› Premiums can play BR games through there. I think there's a limit of one per month and they're always casual games07/01/2013 04:05:03 ‹Gillipig› Ah that one. Yes but those aren't speed games07/01/2013 04:05:12 ‹Gillipig› And it's speed games that are fun07/01/2013 04:06:04 ‹rdsrds2120› There's going to be an announcement tomorrow about Battle Royales...and maps for them07/01/2013 04:07:25 ‹Gillipig› Will speed BR games be available?07/01/2013 04:07:43 ‹Shino Tenshi› I think they're going to all be casual games Gillipig07/01/2013 04:07:52 ‹Shino Tenshi› After what just finished tonight07/01/2013 04:07:59 ‹Shino Tenshi› Assuming it's going to be the same as previous years07/01/2013 04:10:37 ‹Gillipig› If they only could have one map where speed BR's would be allowed it'd be great!07/01/2013 04:11:18 ‹rdsrds2120› Speed BR's take a lot of organizing =)

The second big event started on Wednesday, January 9th. The CC community at large had an opportunity to commence casual Battle Royale games on selected maps. Released in two portions, you may even be able to join in the action if you have a look here. The first four maps were World 2.1, Coloseum, Charleston and Brazil. Players got to choose one game out of those four (I snuck into the Charleston map) and the winner gets 3 months premium for each map (12 months being given away). The second bunch of maps were released 12 hours after the first - the maps are Classic, World 2.1, Iberia and Cairns Coral Coast. As at writing this article, Charleston, Brazil and Classic are full but still spaces available in the other maps (although Iberia and Cairns Coral Coast are very close to filling). You were initially only allowed to join in one game in each section but now its been opened up to let you join two more games. Still, its first in first served. Think of all those points, think of the complexity, think of the kudos!!

I was hoping to contact some of you playing these games to get some real time feedback but I confess I ran out of time. Feel free to PM me your thoughts and I will hopefully put them into another article in the future - once the games move on a bit!!

When you want to do something like inviting players, you use CC Code such as [to]GameNumber Password[/to]when sending a pm to players. If this is to be coded from Excel then you need to use the following code:="[to]" & LocationOfGameNumber & " " & LocationOfPassword & "[/to]"Note that the "&" is used to link text and data locations.

If you now need to code the above using Visual Basic for Excel (VBE) then there is an added complexity. Let's take the above code piece by piece:

="[to]" must be coded as ="=""[to]"" using double quotes in VBE where you need to get a single quote in Excel.A location such as A1 can be coded as "A" & Linedest where Linedest is the variable used in VBE to hold the row number.

After running the Visual Basic routine you can then copy the resulting Excel from the spreadsheet and paste it into a pm to invite the player. Obviously this is useful if you want to automate a series of invites such as another example of inviting two players into a game:

This is taken from the spreadsheet used to create the invites for Centrum Tournament, which consisted of 100 rounds, with only 9 players taking the final set of round-robin games. The Excel routine which is listed in my previous newsletters, puts all this infomation into the spreadsheet. All we are interested in is this example is the coding for the player invites in Column J.

Player 1 is in column G; Player 2 in column H and the game number in column I. The variable "linedest" points to the line number of each line of the invites.

The required output in Excel for sending a pm to inite players into games is either"Round 100; ThrushAAX vs Gromph View Game 12044506 (Auto-Join Game)" where the two players have a game, or "Bones2484 has no game this round." where no game number is specified.,

With "linedest" = 955, this needs to be written into Excel as:=IF(I957="",G957&H957&" has no game this round.","Round "&B$955&"; "&G957&" vs "&H957& " [to]"&I957&" R"&B$955&"[/to]") where B955 contains the round number and the password is R followed by the round number (for simplicity).

This becomes a little more complex when writing the VBE code that will create this text; note that I have broken up the coding to try and make it a little less complex:

When this routine is run for the values of "linedest" incremented down the table, Column J is created. This block of data can then be copied and pasted into a pm to the players involved in this Round-Robin to allow them to join their appropriate games.

(These "tips" are ones that I have tried to make it a bit easier in managing my own tournaments. I am sure there are different and better methods than these, so please let me know. Any queries on the above I'll be glad to respond to! Please note that I use Excel 2003, so there may be variation in the menu instructions if you have other versions of Excel)

Well done to those of you that spotted that in my previous Wrap the TPA2 scores did not match the spreadsheet - I naughtily added scores after I had completed my article submission. Anyway, we now have more completed tournaments with 685 players of whom, in last place is a certain Mr Victor Sullivan with 10 points. No doubt he is planning a very special wooden spoon this year.

From down the table on 1,700 points, Swifte moved swiftly ( ) into second place after gaining 2,000 points in Gilligan's Bracket Tournament VII Major tournament with Swimmerdude99 in 2nd and Traffic13/StJColey in joint third place.He then gained another 1,000 points by winning MC's Triples on What?, with partners PROFITS and lokisgal, with aaronvollrath/vicmasters/beeps in second and Enormastitz/Terry Nutkins/Tin Trumpet in third.Therefore, after reducing their scores to compensate for exceeding the maximum number in two types of tournaments, we have Dowian2 5,384 points followed by Swifte 4,701; barterer2002 3,423; enormastitz 3,207 and tin trumpet 2,920.

TPA 2 Standings

TPA Season 3

Two tournaments have now finished; mcshanester29's CC Golf Match Play Season 2 (winners Enormastitz and babagonosh) and Lufsen's Terminator Series - Alexander's Empire(winner Gromph). Not surprisingly this places these three players in the lead.

There is one tournament open for joining and that is I suck at this map by greenoaks, as covered in Dukasaur's JTON article. However, with one new tournament each week, you don't have too long to wait for the next one!

And now for our regular look at a selection of the tournaments in sign-ups:

Greenoaks today posted a his TPA3 entry for this week: I Suck At This Map [TPA] It's a nifty concept: instead of coming to the table with your favourite map, come with one that you've never done very well at, and challenge yourself!

Silly Knig-it PM'd me today with his CC Mountain Beta Ski Race (20/22) (33) (44). It a 1v1 tournament that's all about efficiency: for every turn that you use to put down your opponent, another second ticks away in your imaginary downhill race. If you pride yourself on playing an error free game, this might be something you'll do well at!

Our own WorldCup4James provides a stunning new tournament in his inimitable style: A Risktaker's Race: The WC4J Board Game [36/70]. As you travel around his game board, you play 1v1 games which determine your rate of advancement. Even if you don't join, click on the link just to have a look at the game board he has designed -- seriously!

As we reported in our last issue, HighlanderAttack has returned to tournament organising, and is carrying on with his Don't Blink series. HA's Don't Blink-Rail Asia(3of16) is in signups, along with the same on Rail Africa and Rail Australia.

Anyway, if you're following this numbers game, I'm again at an equilibrium, with 21 complete and 21 ongoing! A few more should be ending soon, so I will probably never be here again. Anyway, if you want to know what your tournament pull-down menu looks like when you have 21 ongoing, it looks like this:

Anyway, it's probably not the most exciting news you've heard this week, but it's exciting to me and I wanted to share.

Getting back into the swing of things here. So what can we bring you today. Well, firstly, the votes have been allocated and the winner have received their medals. I bring to you the winners from the map awards 2013. Some surprising winners and some not so much. Next year we will run them later in the year so every map gets in. After a break, the Maps in Development is back. New year brings us a huge issue for this one. We have foundry news on the new layout and Battle Royale maps. Lastly, generalhead brings us another look at his Alamo map and how patience is needed in the foundry.koontz1973 -- Foundry Executive

Whilst here, you will find the results, if you go here you can see a fuller run down of them and take part in the discussion on why each map won in each.

Remember, each winner in each of the ten categories gets a shiny medal and the top three maps in the best of 2012 category all walk away with premium. So without further ado, lets see what has won what.[Here are the results for the first two. Third PlaceJoint third. 6.3% of the vote.Second Place7.6% of the vote.27.8% of the vote.Third Place9.2% of the vote.Second Place17.1% of the vote.25% of the vote.Third Place5.8%Trench WarfairSecond Place15.1%Kings Court 2Eurasia58.1%Third Place10%Trench WarfairSecond Place13.8%Kings Court 2Eurasia17.5%Third PlacePot Morsbi10.7%Second PlaceA tie at 13.1% Kings Court 2 & Dark Continent.Eurasia15.5%Third PlaceA tie at 7.7%. Pot morsbi and EurasiaSecond PlaceA tie at 10.3% of the vote. Dark Continent and Salems Switch.19.2%Kings Court 2Third Place8.4%New JerseySecond Place16.9%LondonEurasia Mini 41%Third PlaceCuban Missile Crisis and Trench Warfair get 12.2%Second PlacePatch Wars at 13.4%A joint first place this time at 15.9% of the vote each.Knights and Salem's SwitchAce Rimmer with Cuban Missile Crisis got

50.6%

Flapcake with Kingdom of Denmark got

30.9%

chaos32679 with New jersey got

12.3%

ISN2 with Istanbul got

6.2%

And lastly the big one.

Dark Continent9.4%Kings Court 218.8%Eurasia25.9%Congratulations to every map maker that won. Now head over to here to discuss why each map won and do you agree with the results.Next year we will hold this slightly later.

So we have come into a new year. 2013 is already proving an exciting time in the foundry. We have 4 separate things to get though in this issue.

New lookThe foundry has gone through a radical overhaul. No longer do we have the old foundry forums for gameplay and graphics. All maps now reside in the main foundry page. As normal we have the drafting room and beta maps. The Viewing room has been renamed The Atlas. Go and check it all out. The maps in development guide right here gives you a look at all the maps though so make sure you look at that and follow the ones you want to see made.

Battle Royale MapsI will leave the explanation of this to rds, our esteemed community manager.

rdsrds2120 wrote:Rds here with a quick word on some Battle Royale info -- after all, what time would be better than right after the Anniversary?

As you all know, we currently have 1 map that is a Battle Royale ONLY map (Colosseum by samuelc812). While sam's map is spectacular in form and function for BR's, well, who doesn't like a little variety?

I'd like to see some brand new ideas for these mega maps, and to have them hosted right here on the site for both the Anniversary Events and our Monthly Battle Royales. So, what better place to get this started than the Foundry? Answer: Nowhere, and this is why, as thenobodies mentioned, I am now stressing that no maps are to be made 'behind the scenes' as they have been done in the past. Power to the people!

Without further ado,

Battle Royale Maps

Here's the criteria! You must be sure to read and understand the following:

Battle Royale maps can be developed by everyone. The development must be public.

Conquer Club would like to keep the quality of Battle Royale maps high. For this reason all Battle Royale maps must be unique inherently in graphics, gameplay, location or theme.

All Battle Royale maps must add something meaningful to the site, they must not be done just for the sake to develop a Battle Royale map. For this reasons ALL Battle Royale Maps Drafts are subject to the Cartographers and Admins approval to receive a stamp. Cartographers and Admins decision are NOT subject of public discussion or review.

All Battle Royale map projects must start and finish as BR map.

All Battle Royale map must fit at least 21 players, they can have 1 player for each region although 2 regions per player is highly suggested as minimum.

There are no big restrictions about gameplay, the most important aspect is that all BR maps must fit Standard and Terminator games only. (we can allow assassin for EXTREMELY limited cases)

All Battle Royale maps are subject to the current standard size or supersize map policies.

Additional info about the Battle Royale Maps policy can be found in the dedicated topic

--rdsrds2120 (BMO)

Abandon at your own peril.To try and save everyone time and resources, the cartography team has come up with a fair way to try and help all map makers. But this comes with a sting in its tail.

thenobodies80 wrote:Abandoning a map project is simply unfair and discourteous to the community member who make the commitment to support the map project and to the CA who has spent time on it. This without consider that the same time could have been used on other projects. As mapmaker, it is your responsibility to see your map succesfully go through the foundry process from beginning to end.

Said that, the Cartographers have come up with a policy to reduce the number of abandoned projects, to better serve the committed Foundry memebers and obviously keeping into account that sometimes unexpected things happen: Every mapmaker, which is developing a map that has received at least the draft stamp, is the only responsible of his map project. Mapmakers are defined and specified in the first post of each map topic. They must follow and work on the map project from the start to the end (quenched status), obviously on stuff that match with their respective roles.

Every mapmaker starts with a clean record.

We've set a scale of values, each value determines a disciplinary action.

Obviously we want to reward serious and committed mapmakers, so we're looking for possible incentives (e.g. a prize for having successfully completed 5 maps in a row)..more info about them soon!

Additional Notes:- If you don't have time for a project and it's a temporary thing, you can use vacation.- Cartographers always apply the vacation status on a map when it's moved into the bin. So, from that moment you will have 6 additional months to "save" your map.- Uncommon or extraordinary situations will be evaluated case by case.- The Cartographer that oversee the Abandoned Maps policy is thenobodies80

New xml guide bookA new guide has been written to show anyone who wants to how to write an xml for any map. This has been updated to show all things that have now been added to the xml since the last one was written. Sometime in 1845 I think.

That is all this issue. Go and have a look around and post some thoughts on the maps you like, but more importantly, the ones you do not like.

The foundry can be a pretty arduous place. People always asking you to change your map, people critiquing your map, and people picking out the little things that are wrong with your map. You are excited about making a map, but you have been working on your map for 9 months and see no end in sight.

In the foundry you must have patience and realize that everyone who posts about your map are only trying to help you make your map better. It is easy to feel like you are being picked on. Every one in the foundry has one goal in mind though, to try to make your map more attractive, easier to understand, and with better game play. Map making is an exciting process, but it is a slow process. If you think you are going to create a map in a week or even a month it takes time. Beauty takes time to forge.

What you must realize though is that the making a map is a process. Your map is a work of art being forged by the eyes, thoughts and suggestions of members of the community. Each member of the community that visits will see differing items that might need changed or tweaked on your map. Every time each individual member revisits he will also see something new that might need changed or tweaked. What map makers must realize though is that every suggestion has the tendency to make your map a better map. The foundry takes your initial idea and forges your idea into a work of art that can be loved by all.

You should be glad for all of the volunteers and all the members of the community coming together in the foundry. Without them the foundry would be a pretty lonely place. Without them map making would not be possible. Without them some of the maps that we are playing on would not be as beautiful as they are now. You should be glad that they are there because your map is going to have your name on it and all of the members of Conquer Club will play on it and observe it. Would you rather have the members of the Conquer Club say who made this map it is not so attractive, or would you rather the members of Conquer Club say who made this map it is a beautiful piece of art work. In the end that is what we create a piece of art forged in the foundry by yourself and members of the community.

No matter whether you are a beginner or advanced with graphics there is still a process to go through. The process is not just graphics though. The Process involves game play. You must endure days and weeks and months of your map being critiqued and you working to make it better.

If anyone has any doubts about the map foundry process look what it has helped a guy like me accomplish. Before I started on the map making process the only thing I knew about gimp was a guy that couldn't walk very well. I have learned so much though and have fallen in love with the process. Critics you say, I say angels with words of wisdom.

first draft. EEEk Gads.....

Click image to enlarge.

somewhere in the middle.

Click image to enlarge.

latest but not final draft. There is still plenty of forging to be done.

Click image to enlarge.

To help me critique my map you can see it and post in this threadAlamo Map

Welcome one and all to another helping of Strategy.

This is the stuff that's important, so listen up!!

This issue we have another brief update from SoCs, thanks macbone! And please welcome back theSaxlad who brings us an article entitled The Strategy Forum Spotlight Presents: xiangwang- Colonel in 100 days!. It does what it says on the tin. Prepare for some heavy strategy tips, take notes, listen up - better still print it off and turn it into wallpaper wherever your computer may be!! Put it next to this from Jarod Kintz:

I consider conversations with people to be mind exercises, but I don't want to pull a muscle, so I stretch a lot. That's why I'm constantly either rolling my eyes or yawning.

Also in this issue, FATHARRY shares his wisdom on Feudal War and Feudal Epic. Prior to this information I shied away from those maps because I just didn't get them. Now I am scalping points on those maps and they are quickly becoming favourites for me! And remember, for those of you looking for an easy GA medal, please get acquanted with the maps in the Collected Wisdom series and go ahead and send your entries into the Official Guides - they need to be done and you get something out of it too. Stay clever!

Society of Cooks Training Grounds is the place to go to learn strategy. Hopefully from this point on we will keep you up to date with developments, innovations, state of the art and other happenings in SoC insofar as that relates to strategy.

Macbone says:

macbone wrote:Hey, all. Qwert is teaching an advanced team training course, a master course if you will, for the eight maps he created for Conquer Club. The first two teams have been formed, and they're ready to start their training. (And our very own dukasauris one of the first students. (= )

WWII Ardennes Map

WWII Eastern Front Map

WWII Iwo Jima Map

Western Front Map

Imperium Romanum Map

WWII Europe Map

Europe 1914 Map

Peloponnesian War Map

Now if that is not an incentive to join SoC, nothing is!!

macbone wrote:Another thing, is that the SoC is always looking for experienced team players to be SoC team training teachers. Applicants should have at least a silver medal in the team setting they apply to teach (doubs, trips, and/or quads) and be willing to play some tryout games with other SoC teachers and students. If you're interested, you can contact me (macbone) and Commander9.

The other day I decided that I wanted a fresh look at map strategies. So, I made my way to the strategy forum (the home of the official strategy guides, which are well worth a look) when just by chance I came across a forum post by xiangwang entitled “How to get a colonel in 100 days”. I was intrigued, having never had Colonel and decided to have a look at what I thought could be a great guide and maybe even chat to the man himself, xiangwang.

First, I asked xiangwang about himself, what bought him to CC and what spurred him to write this guide:

xiangwang wrote:I joined CC because my friend (username Kiron) was my housemate and we play a lot of risk together with housemates. He joked that if he can make it to the top page of CC I can do too. At first I didn't have much motivation and played mostly for fun. I noticed I was still winning so I decided to start concentrating to gain points.

One day I was bored and decided that it would be beneficial for CC to have more people to use chat and use diplomacy. I really disliked games where no one talked and the strong player just picked off the weak players off one by one (I have been on both ends).

Sounds here like sound reasoning, so lets actually have a look at the guide itself. It begins quickly as xiangwang lays out the main rules of using this strategy,

Rule 1 wrote: Know the basic rules of the game.

At first that seems like a pretty easy rule, however maybe not so. Coming back to CC recently, Ive been caught out by things such as trench warfare and other small rules in game that have changed, maybe a rule revision is a good idea for everyone? If you are reading this and think that you perhaps don't know it all, you can find the instruction manual here!. Now we have the rules settled and under our belt, lets move on to the guides rule number 2,

Rule 2 wrote:play freestyle (learn how to use the freestyle system to your advantage and it's just faster than waiting 24 hours for everyone to finish their turn), unlimited fortification and no FOW

Fine, I thought to myself this seems ok, but how do I use the freestyle system to my advantage? Its just a game type right, like sequential only you take your turns at the same time? I was proved wrong by Xiangwang who shed some light on this when I asked him saying,

xiangwang wrote:One of the things when playing freestyle is taking advantage of opportunity and leverage. I just wrote a thread on leverage and timing. The strong players know how to use it to blackmail and coerce other players into advancing their interests.

Having lots of time is not completely required (there have been many games where I logged on only once a day, just make sure you are within the last 1 hours of the round time), but it is beneficial. If you have no reason to take your turn, there is no harm in waiting. The beauty of freestyle is games can turn 180 degrees in 1 round due to the "double turn" potential and makes the flow of the game faster.

The thread which xiangwang referenced, which maybe especially interesting to those of you that play 3rd Crusade map can be found here!

Unlimited fortification was another one that astounded me, as many of us play with chained forts or even adjacent forts. However, this is explained later in the guide as the guide suggests using it in a strategy called the shield and sword - a strategy in which in a three player game you leave lots of interconnected three's over the map before gathering them up at the end of a turn into the sword, and using it to strike out, and hopefully annihilate your opponent. The guide comes up with its own example,

xiangwang wrote: For example you have 14 territory with just 3s? Doesn't look that threatening right? well once all fortified to one area, that is 13x2+3 = 29 troops on any one of your borders (assuming you don't have certain territories with more than 3). That's enough troops to make a winning bid.

However when I quizzed xiangwang about this, he did admit this tactic is close to becoming obsolete as,

xiangwang wrote:Well, the shield strategy part of the guide is starting to be obselete with the changes by the display of all the troop count. I don't use the shield strategy as much as Kiron, but it's optimal performance was before the change with the display of troop count because it deceptively made a player looked weaker, but with troop count displayed, it lost most of it's effect.

Rules 3 and 4 are very simple, Rule 3 and 4 being,

Rule 3 wrote:play 8 player standard games (you win more points than you lose)

Rule 4 wrote:Play flatrate or no spoils and automatic deployment

This one puzzled me, I mean aren't all the SoC (Society of Cooks) games played on escalating setups? Surely the amount of good players who teach there and learn there mean that its the way to go? However xiangwang shares his knowledge here as well with all of us for this game setup,

xiangwang wrote:Reason for non-escalation is escalation games diplomacy is pretty much irrelevant (just set up and go for the sweep). Reason for automatic is forces players have to work with what they have and use diplomacy to get what they want.

Short, Simple, but ultimately sweet.

Rules 3 and 4 lead straight onto Rule 5,

Rule 5 wrote:Use the chat box!

Here comes the more tricky part perhaps, before this I had just been reading a thread in which the discussion was "when are truces right?" After some discussion, and as I soon realised a necrobump, I spotted a response by natty dread who stated that about truces,

natty dread wrote:Well, I still don't think you should make truces in 3-player games. In fact, here's a list of games you shouldn't make truces in:

If I had to break the game down assuming the settings are freestyle, standard, and flatrate, I think diplomacy is 50% of the game, strategy 20%, and luck is 30%. I can't count the number of times, I find myself in a shitty spot because my starting luck was abysmal and end up holing up in a corner attempting to collect cards, however...diplomacy has allowed me to survive and slowly move the game in my interest.

So now obviously diplomacy is important, but as natty points out, it need to be used in the right place, lest be accused of trolling. There are two more things xiangwang comments on that can help us towards fame and eternal glory! One is the map choice, as xiangwang explains,

Rule 7 wrote:Pick a fairly complex map and specialize in it (i don't care if you lose your first 20 games, you will slowly understand how to play it which will give you an advantage over other players)

Specialize usually means know how the winning player used their territories and how they won. Different regions in the map have a general strategy of how to win Learn them (not only for you to use but also to counter other players from making winning moves). Some maps have special rules, know how to use those rules to your maximum advantage (i.e. Waterloo map, don't leave 1s because they will be bombarded costing ur opponents usually 0 troops to take out yours)

Sound advice I would say and so to end this article I give you two things, one a mention for tennischamp5 who using this guide beat both Kiron and mc05025 in Game 9149187, two of the people who helped formulate and first used xiangwangs guide!!!

On that bombshell, its time to end, but the last word in this article has to belong to xiangwang's final piece of advice for making points,

thehippo8 wrote:Hey there FATHARRY,I am the Chief of the newsletter, and currently I'm in charge of strategy stuff as well.

Recently I've been doing simple one-on-one interviews with experts on different maps. I see that you play Feudal War and Feudal Epic with sufficient regularity to meet that definition (and with a 64% win rate you know what you are doing!).

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

So, if it's not too much of an imposition, would you mind answering some questions?

FATHARRY wrote:Hey Hip. See my answers inserted below. Cheers, Harry.

Yay, the answer is yes - so here goes:

1. Do you agree that Feudal War and Feudal Epic are both pure strategy games?

As in all games - luck plays a part - but I believe that strategy counts for more than luck on Feudal.

2. In Feudal War, what is your preferred drop?

No particular favourite, but I like my forces to be close to each other. If I had to choose a single drop it would probably be barb and rebel. The worst drops I.M.O. are Feudal and ID or GK and Barb. With trench it is different though. Here the best drop is ROM and Rebel (best access to neutral ground for expansion of income generating teritory).

3. How do you proceed from the drop on Feudal War?

This depends on whether I have the start, on how my opponent plays, on my drop and whether fog/trench settings are on. Thus is a large variety of tactics. Strategically there are a few basic principles.

(a) (Most important) Try to be the player with the attack dice when stack meets stack.

(b) If you go exploring (e.g. with FOG on) - try whenever possible to lead with your small stack, i.e. try to avoid having your large stack stuck out in the open where it can be hit.

(c) As far as possible, have your stacks facing each other - so that if one is hit, the other can counter.

(d) Try to keep as many attack paths open as possible (i.e. don't block paths by e.g. taking too many terits around Lake Minstello)

(e) Try to achieve the best balance between disposable troops and investment in future income. This is often the most difficult part to achieve, and depends on judgment which comes with experience. In general, trench favours investment, while non-trench favours keeping your troops mobile and deployable. The most common mistakes in feudal are to over-extend (with trench off) and to under-invest (with trench on).

(f) The best time to attack is usually immediately after your opponent has made a major expansion into neutral ground.

(g)With fog on - learn to use the log and the cards to make educated guesses about where your opponent's forces are. e.g. If your opponent has 14 terits, 2x3 bonus troops for holding kingdom terits and has a village - then it is not possible for the village to be Rhu. Cards often say as much about where your opponet is NOT as about where he is - and this can also be very valuable.

But strategy varies so much from game to game, it really is impossible to give a comprehensive strat guide to Feudal. I am still learning the maps - after thousands of games.

4. Is this the same for Feudal Epic (drop and proceeding from there)? What differences exist between these maps (or are they so similar that it doesn't matter)?

The main difference is the greater travelling distances on Epic. Thus - the best time to attack generally comes sooner on FW than it does on FE.

5. Do you prefer fog or indeed any other settings (and why)?

I like a variety of settings. Currently my favourite is esc. chained foggy.

6. I see you play mostly 1v1 - why is that?

I think the luck element is higher in multi-player games because you can be disadvantaged by another player's bad strategy. In 1v1 - if your opponent plays badly, it can only benefit you.

7. Have you played these maps as a team player and how did that change things for you?

Yes. The strategy is different with teams, and different again depending on whether there are 2 or more teams in the game. e.g. with several teams in the game, often the best strat is patience. With only 2 teams, one needs to be more aggressive.

8. What would you say to new players on this map?

Enjoy it - this is the best map in cc. Avoid blaming the dice when you lose and try to learn from your opponents (and from your own mistakes.)

9. Now that you are a Brigadier are you going to look to expand your repertoire?

I play a few maps, but feudal is my favourite. I have tried most maps, and a lot of them I wouldn't bother playing again - simply because they don't offer any real strategic challenge.

thehippo8 wrote:Cheers for that FATHARRY and to prove that your theories work, I played Feudal War immediately after preparing this. See the game here. I won against a Colonel!! Sorry, Phatscotty - but you didn't stand a chance ...

If you would like to apply to join the news team, please visit the thread below for more details!

An excellent looking tourney. I skipped over it when I was writing JTON because it's almost full, but now I'm thinking I should have mentioned it. Anyway, better late than never: McShanester is looking for 9 more players to get it launched forthwith!